


Pushing Forty

by Aviss



Category: Naruto
Genre: Domesticity, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:08:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are perks to getting old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pushing Forty

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so here is the thing. I have no idea of what happened on Naruto's canon for the past few years, I stopped reading somewhere in the last battle so any resemblance with what happened in canon is completely coincidental.

 

"Kaka-oji-san! Kaka-oji-san!"

Kakashi looked up from the book he was reading at the sound of a childish voice calling him. He stopped, turning in the direction it was coming from, and managed to get his book back in his pocket and his arms extended in time to receive the full impact of a small body crashing against him. He curled his arms around the tiny form protectively to prevent the kid from falling down, one of his legs taking a reflexive step back to compensate for the shift in balance. Tiny hands gripped his flak vest tightly, a high pitched laugh assaulting his ears.

From some distance he could hear quick steps approaching, and Kakashi didn't need to look to know who they belonged to.

"Midori-chan! How many times have I told you not to jump Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata's stern voice called the child, and she pressed closer to Kakashi's chest, as if trying to hide herself inside his skin. Kakashi smiled behind his mask and tightened his arms around Midori. "Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry. I hope she hasn't inconvenienced you." Hinata's voice was softer and a bit apologetic now, though it was a far cry from the timid girl Kakashi remembered.

Kakashi looked down, Midori's face tilted up to look at him now with huge white eyes. She was smiling as only a child could, her blond hair framing a face astoundingly similar to her father's, though luckily without whiskers, the gap between her missing front teeth making her speech more garbled than usual.

"Kaka-oji-san, I'm going to be Hokage!" Midori said, her voice filled with the unmovable conviction only children and fools exhibited. She was _remarkably_ like her father.

"Midori!" Her mother exclaimed, the resigned smile tugging at the corner of her mouth belying her tone.

Kakashi looked at her and tried not to laugh. "Are you now, Midori-chan?"

She beamed. "Yes. Dad has called me to the Hokage Tower; he is going to make me Hokage!"

Kakashi nodded sagely, biting the inside of his cheek to keep the laughter in. "I see," he said, his voice serious. "I have also been called by the Hokage to the tower; it might be me who's going to be made Hokage."

Midori stared hard at him, her lips pursed. Then she shook her head. "No, you're too old. I'll be Hokage." She climbed up his torso, Kakashi helping her until she was sitting on his shoulders, her hands grabbing fistfuls of his hair to steady herself. "But you can take me there, Kaka-oji-san."

It was impossible to resist Midori, and after four years Kakashi was perfectly aware of this fact. He didn't even try anymore; he shared a look with Hinata and started walking towards the Hokage Tower. They were greeted with a silent nod by the ANBU posted at the door, and even with it closed they could hear the raised voices inside.

Hinata looked at the ANBU. "Iruka-sensei has arrived?" she asked, as if she needed more confirmation that the shouting from the other side of the door. The ANBU nodded, his porcelain mask somehow managing to convey resignation. Kakashi fought the urge to smile, something he was getting more and more used to at the mention of Iruka-sensei's name.

They entered the Hokage's office, the scene inside one they had seen a million times.

"I am the Hokage!" Naruto was bellowing, his face so dark it looked almost purple. He was leaning on his desk, palms flat on the wood, his entire body pushing forward as if he wanted to climb over it. Right on his face Iruka was mirroring his posture, sans the foaming mouth, his own face a deep red as well.

"Then act like it, you damned brat!" Iruka shouted right back. Naruto opened his mouth in shock but whatever it was he was going to say, the words got lost the moment the door slammed shut. They turned to look at the newcomers, Naruto's angry face melting into a huge grin at the sight of his daughter as if he hadn't been screaming his head off one second before. Midori pushed herself up on Kakashi's shoulders, jumping as soon as she had a bit of leverage and before anyone was able to stop her.

It was Iruka who grabbed her mid-jump, and she clung to him like a limpet, grabbing fistfuls of hair and pulling while she screamed happily. "Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei, I'm going to be Hokage! Dad is going to make me Hokage!"

" _I am the Hokage_! You wait your turn!" Naruto shouted outraged before Iruka had the chance to say anything, and Midori turned to him, her expressive face crumpling in disappointment before she jumped down from Iruka's arms and threw herself at her father, calling him an idiot and pounding at his legs with her tiny fists. Not laughing was the hardest thing Kakashi had done, and he could tell by Iruka's pinched expression he wasn't the only one having that particular problem.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked Iruka while Naruto argued with his four year old daughter. And lost. "You were screaming at him before?"

Iruka shot him a quick look before turning again to watch Naruto and Midori. "Yeah. He wants to go on a mission to Suna."

"He's the Hokage. He can't."

"I know. _You_ are going to Suna. He's staying here to discuss the training budget for the new pre-genin with me." Kakashi had no words to express how grateful he was that he had been Hokage for all of a day, and that he was never going to be appointed again. "Not that I blame him; we have to meet the elders later today. I'd go to Suna if I could."

"What kind of mission?"

Hinata had finally gone to pick up Midori, trying to calm down the crying kid. Naruto looked as if he was also about to burst into tears before he smoothed his expression and turned to Kakashi and Iruka, his Hokage face in place. It was something few people had ever believed him capable of doing, separating the Hokage from Naruto the hot-headed idiot. He was surprisingly adept at it. "Diplomatic," he said picking up a scroll and handing it to Kakashi. "You'll be carrying some sensitive information that Gaara requested."

Kakashi unrolled the scroll and looked at the mission parameters. "B-rank?" he said with an arched eyebrow. "I suddenly feel old." Not that he had a problem with that; Kakashi had never believed he was going to live to see his fortieth birthday, especially considering he had fought in several wars, the fact that he was still alive and able was a pleasant surprise, even if he couldn't remember the last S-rank mission he had completed, and lately was more prone to play courier than to chase missing nins.

"No offense Kakashi-sensei, but you _are_ old," Naruto replied and both Kakashi and Iruka glared at him. "But yeah, I know, it's easy and boring. Too easy and boring for you. I could do it and then you--"

"Naruto!" Hinata cut him off before he could start babbling, and he looked at her with an expression that was the mirror image of his daughter's pout. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei, we won't keep you from your mission."

Kakashi nodded and grabbed the scrolls he was going to carry to Suna.

"Oh, and don't forget we're having dinner on Sunday, so come back before that!" Naruto said as Kakashi was leaving the office.

He turned at the door and looked at his Hokage. "Who's cooking?"

"I am," Hinata said at the same time as Naruto said "Me!".

"Naruto, making instant ramen doesn't count as cooking," Iruka said rolling his eyes. "Don't worry, Kakashi; I won't let him near the kitchen."

"Good. See you on Sunday," Kakashi said before leaving. He had five days to get to Suna and back if he didn't want to miss the dinner, and he wasn't as fast as he used to.

He had to hurry.

…

Iruka was already at Naruto's house when Kakashi arrived, and he wasn't even that late.

"Kakashi, come in," he said opening the door wider and letting him in, "Hinata is inside finishing up and Naruto is bathing Midori."

Kakashi could see in Iruka's dripping hands and his pushed up sleeves that Naruto wasn't the only one on bathing duty. "You sure you can leave him alone with Midori?" Kakashi asked, closing the door behind him and giving Iruka the bottle of plum wine he brought for dinner.

"I heard that!" Naruto hollered from the bathroom and Iruka smiled at him.

"Oh, I don't think he's in any danger. I'm sure Midori will not let anything happen to him," Iruka replied loudly as they walked into the house, his words eliciting more spluttering noises from the bathroom. Kakashi laughed. "So how was the mission?"

Iruka asked as they lay the table, their motions practiced and certain after six months worth of dinners at Naruto's house. It had been Hinata's idea to start them, saying that custom forced them to endure at least one night with the Hyuuga clan every fortnight, and that it was only fair they did the same with Naruto's family. His family being just Kakashi and Iruka, the dinners were nothing like Kakashi imagined had to be the other ones. According to Naruto, these didn't suck.

"Boring." As the previous one. And the one before. And the one before that.

Kakashi couldn't even remember the last time he had needed to use his sharingan, and he kind of missed it, draining as it always was when he had to. It wasn't that he was out of shape, and his jutsu were still as numerous and as deadly as before. It was true, though, that he wasn't getting any younger, and the current peace ensured there were very few dangerous missions going around. It would be very selfish not to give way to the new generation, especially after they had proved themselves in the last war.

If sometimes he missed the excitement of the old days--well, he was sure he wasn't the only one. And peace had its perks, Kakashi couldn't imagine that he would have got to be where he was right now, and with the people he was, if they were still at war.

"Next time," Iruka said opening the bottle of wine and serving four glasses. He passed one to Kakashi and took a small sip of his own. " _I'll_ deliver the scrolls to Gaara and _you_ can sit for hours with Naruto and the elders."

Kakashi chuckled at that. "I'll pass, I'll take all the boring missions."

Hinata appeared from the kitchen, a plate of food in one hand and a strip of black cloth in the other. Kakashi handed her a glass of wine and picked the cloth. He debated for a minute, as it was also becoming the norm during these nights, whether or not to put it on. He felt comfortable here, almost as much as he did at home or at Gai's place, and he trusted these people. He was almost at the point where he didn't want to keep any more distance from them, and the mask was the last barrier he had. Soon, he decided darting a look at Hinata and Iruka, engrossed in a conversation and giving him the time and privacy to put it on.

Soon, but not today.

…

"Let me guess," Kakashi said as he closed the door to Naruto's office. "Another courier mission?"

"Not exactly."

He hadn't expected for Iruka to be with Naruto, or the warmth spreading through him at the fact that he was. He smiled, taking a seat on the chair in front of Naruto's desk.

"What then?"

"Amano-san has been offered a place in the Council of elders," Naruto began. It wasn't exactly news, or surprising in the least. Amano Noriko was well past her seventh decade, and her place at the Council was something everyone knew was waiting for her to relinquish her iron grip on the Academy. "Nara Shikaku is going to take over her, but that leaves us without anyone to cover his advance strategy and jutsu classes."

And suddenly Kakashi could see where this conversation was going, and the reason for Iruka's presence there. Since the last war and the long peace that followed, more and more active duty shinobi past their prime had been steadily moving away from the front lines, and ingraining themselves in the workings of daily life of the village. Some of them, like Nara, had lost the taste for fighting and dedicated themselves to train the newer generations.

Kakashi didn't know if he was at that point yet. As boring as missions were becoming lately, he didn't want to give them up completely. He wasn't _that old_.

"It's only temporary," Iruka cut in, as if he could read Kakashi's thoughts. "You'd still be on the duty roster and taking missions, but we need someone with skills on par to that of Nara, and there isn't a better strategist than you. Or anyone who knows more jutsu."

"Just for a couple of months," Naruto added, his tone wheedling. "We don't have anyone now, and it's just two months till the end of the school year."

" _I hate brats_ ," Kakashi protested, though it sounded empty and false even to his ears. Naruto and Iruka had seen him interact with Midori, so they weren't going to believe it either. "And I wouldn't even know where to start teaching them."

Iruka smiled at him, recognizing the empty excuses for what they were. "Don't worry, I'll help you with the teaching part. It's not that hard once you get used to it."

And just like that, Kakashi knew he was done for. There was no way he was going to refuse if it meant spending more time with Iruka.

…

Iruka's house was nothing like Kakashi had imagined; it wasn't in one of the apartment blocks provided by the village for one, but a small house a few blocks from the academy, in one of the quieter quartets of the town, mostly inhabited by families with children and civilians. It looked beautiful and well maintained on the outside, and was absolutely cluttered and chaotic in the inside with a beautiful garden at the back, tiny but overflowing with colourful flowers, most of which Kakashi was unable to name.

They were sitting side by side in the back porch overlooking the garden, a bottle of cold beer in their hands while their dinner finished cooking, and Kakashi could see first hand why Iruka was considered the best teacher in the Academy, it was clear in the attention to detail that was put in every one of his lessons and the soft smile that adorned his mouth as he related some of the antics his students got up to.

"Not that you will have to worry about that," Iruka said after an amusing story about his first day in the Academy. Somehow Kakashi couldn't imagine Iruka being anything less than the holy terror he was, feared and respected in equal measure by his students and active duty shinobi he dealt with on a daily basis. But he must have started out as a teenager, an easy target for precocious students until he got his footing and displayed his legendary temper. "They will be too scared and awestruck to be a problem for at least a week."

"And then all bets are off?" Kakashi asked, pressing his shoulder against Iruka's, the contact comforting and exciting in a way he wasn't entirely sure what to do with.

Irula laughed and pushed back. "Oh yes, after a week they will have got over the novelty of having the _great Hatake Kakashi_ as their teacher and be twice as unruly to make up for it."

"I can't wait," he drawled, dry as Suna's desert. Iruka shook his head at him, eyes soft and amused, and stood up to head to the kitchen.

Kakashi stayed outside for a while, just looking at the garden lost in his thoughts while Iruka puttered inside, laying the table and finishing the last touches of their dinner.

This wasn't so bad. Kakashi had never planned for a future away from the field, mostly because he had always believed he would go out in a blaze of glory during a mission or war, but this was something he could get used to, something he could grow to enjoy, he just needed to be able to balance it with some missions to keep his edge, and as long as he had something, _someone_ , in the village, Kakashi could be happy just like this.

"Come on Kakashi, food is ready," Iruka called from inside the house, and he downed his beer and went inside.

…

Kakashi watched the kids running out of his class and slumped into his chair, exhausted. Iruka had lied, the kids were not impressed by having Kakashi as their teacher or in awe with him, and they had definitely not been well behaved. If this was them on their best behaviour, then Kakashi was not going to survive the two months of classes he had agreed to.

Suddenly his respect for Iruka increased; he had been dealing with that for years and hadn't murdered any of the hellions yet. And Naruto had been one of his students, that alone was enough to raise Iruka to sainthood.

Kakashi closed his eyes and groaned.

"That bad?"

He opened his eyes again and turned to the door, where Iruka was just entering the classroom, a wicked smile on his face. Kakashi glared at him. "You lied to me."

"Guilty as charged." Iruka laughed, eyes crinkling in the corners, a wide grin splitting his face. Kakashi wanted to taste that grin. "I wanted you to accept the job, I could not tell the truth."

"You are evil," Kakashi said with feeling, still glaring at him.

"I'll make it up to you?"

Kakashi stood up from the chair and stalked towards Iruka, as menacingly as he knew how to. Iruka was unfazed, grin widening and eyes sparkling with mischief. "Yes you will," he said darkly. The next instant he broke, unable to keep the façade any longer, and started laughing. "How the hell have you survived teaching this long?"

Iruka shrugged. "Practice, and some well placed rumours about my bad temper."

"You are going to tell me everything tonight. At my flat." He headed to the door, almost afraid that if he stayed he was going to do something he'd much rather not do in public. He turned to look at Iruka before leaving the classroom. "Wine's on you."

…

Kakashi was in the kitchen when Iruka arrived, finishing the last bits of the curry he had prepared. It was his mother's recipe, the one she had used to seduce Kakashi's father according to the story she had liked to tell him when he was still a little kid, and it was perfect for what Kakashi had planned.

It was finally time for the last barrier between Iruka and he to disappear, time to do something about the attraction that made every one of their interactions charged and unforgettable. They had been friends for a long time now, flirted since they started having those dinners with Naruto and Hinata, and had grown steadily closer to the point Kakashi couldn't remember the last time he had been in Konoha and not seen Iruka.

And all this time Kakashi knew Iruka was just waiting for him to be ready to close the distance between them, had been giving him time and space because if they started something, it wasn't going to be casual. And as much experience Kakashi had with sex, relationships were not something he had had before.

He was ready now, and he lowered the fire on the curry and went to open the door, checking through the peephole nobody but Iruka was around before he opened.

"Something smells amazing," Iruka said, walking inside with his eyes set somewhere behind Kakashi, as if he would be able to see what was being cooked if he only looked hard enough.

"I am making curry." Kakashi was closing the door when Iruka looked at him, and the next he knew he was being slammed against it, Iruka's body pressed against his.

" _Finally_ ," Iruka breathed against his bared mouth, and then they were kissing. It was not like any first kiss Kakashi had imagined; it wasn't shy or hesitant like a first kiss ought to be, or hungry and filthy like the release of so many months of tension promised, instead it was sure and familiar and incredibly arousing. Iruka kissed him like Kakashi was a book he had learned to read a long time ago, the press of his lips firm and confident, his tongue exploring but not clumsy. "I have been waiting for this," Iruka was saying between kisses, breathing the words against Kakashi's mouth and skin, "hoping that you wanted the same thing," between nips of his jaw and he scrape of teeth to his neck, "I wanted to kiss you in the middle of Naruto's house," his hands were exploring Kakashi's chest and arms, "wanted to taste the plum wine from your tongue," one hand stopped on his shoulder while the other rested against his belly, "wanted to climb you like Midori does."

"Fuck yes," Kakashi gasped, unable to do anything but hold on to Iruka with hands that wanted to touch everything at the same time, press his mouth against any bit of skin within reach. He didn't know why he'd waited so long for this, not when it felt like this, like liquid fire coursing his veins and the coolest water on a hot day at the same time. It felt nothing like any encounter he'd had before, and they had not gone beyond kissing against a door for five minutes.

"You drive me insane," Iruka said against his throat, his fingers had found the hem of Kakashi's shirt and had sneaked inside, touching his abdomen and playing with the skin under the waistband of his trousers. "You've made me wait for ages, and now that I finally, _finally_ have you where I want you," the fingers moved lower, playing with the trail of hair going from his navel to his groin while Kakashi panted, tried to catch his breath and failed, wondered when had that patch of skin become the most erogenous zone in his body, "I don't have enough control to do anything except this."

"This is fine," Kakashi rasped, his voice a wreck. "This is perfect." Iruka pushed closer, his erection rubbing against Kakashi's thigh, and it _was_ perfect, it was overwhelmingly arousing, this desperation and lack of control.

Kakashi knew they were going to come just like this, like teenagers rutting against a door, food forgotten on the stove. He didn't care, would have not moved from where he was for anything in the world. He grabbed Iruka's head with one hand and removed the hair tie keeping his hair on a ponytail, something he had wanted to do for ages, and grabbed a handful of hair. He pulled Iruka's head up and leaned forward, capturing his lips in a devouring kiss, his other hand going to Iruka's ass and pushing him closer, pressed harder against his thigh. Iruka moaned into the kiss, his questing hand moving lower, the other gripping Kakashi's shoulder with bruising force.

"You are unfairly good at this," he rumbled against his lips once they parted for breath, and Kakashi didn't know what to say to that, he wasn't the one who was unfairly good.

"Iruka," he groaned, his entire body vibrating with tension, his cock harder than it had ever been. Iruka seemed to know what he wanted, and he wrapped his hand around it, tight and perfect, and stroked him in time with his kiss and the push of his hips against Kakashi's thigh. "So good, Iruka, I can't--"

"I don't--" Iruka gasped into his mouth, hand stuttering, and Kakashi could feel him stiffening, his entire body taut, his eyes scrunched shut while his mouth went slack, and it was so ridiculously hot that he was coming in just two messy pulls, spilling all over Iruka's hand.

They kept kissing lazily even as they came down from orgasm, still pressed together and ignoring the uncomfortable wet patch on their underwear.

It was the smell of food what kicked Kakashi's brain into gear again, and he reluctantly pushed Iruka away. He was grateful he had turned the fire to the minimum before he opened the door, or the food would be burned and inedible by now. He tried to go to the kitchen, but Iruka caught his wrist and pushed him back against the door when he tried to move past him, kissing him again.

"Curry's going to burn," he protested, though he didn't stop kissing Iruka.

"Let it, I'm not hungry." Not for food by the looks of it, and Kakashi could not agree more, wanted to keep kissing and touching Iruka forever.

But. "It's my mom's recipe."

He saw in the softening of Iruka's eyes that he knew what that meant, and he was thoroughly kissed again. "Go, I'll be in the shower."

He put the food away and was joining Iruka in the shower in under a minute.

"Food'll keep," he said pushing Iruka under the spray and covering him with his body. "We have waited long enough."

Turned out, his mom's curry was the perfect midnight snack.

…

"How long until the food is ready?" Kakashi asked entering the kitchen and embracing Iruka from behind. He rested his head on Iruka's shoulder, front pressed to his back and arms around his waist.

Iruka turned his head to look at him, a fondly exasperated smile on his face. "This would go faster if you'd stop interrupting me."

They could hear voices from the living room, Midori and Naruto's cries of hunger and Hinata's long suffering sighs, muffled through the flimsy wood. "They are threatening to eat each other."

"And whose fault is it that the food is not ready?" Iruka asked pointedly.

"Yours, for being too irresistible."

It was techinically the truth, and Kakashi would accept no responsibility for their lateness. It was their turn to have Naturo and Hinata for dinner at the house he shared with Iruka, the dinners had progressed from once a fortnight to a weekly affair since Kakashi had accepted a permanent position in the Academy at the beginning of term, and they were preparing the ramen when Kakashi had seen the first silver hairs on Iruka's temples, and he had just been too stunned for words. He had believed nothing would make Iruka more attractive to him; he had been wrong.

He had dragged a laughing Iruka to the bedroom and proceeded to fuck him senseless, and they had barely had any time to clean themselves before Naruto arrived.

"It's just some gray hair, Kakashi," Iruka said, shaking his head. "You have a whole head of them."

"And I know for a fact that you also find me irresistible." He pressed a chaste kiss to Iruka's lips and disentangled himself from his body before he was tempted to start something they could not finish.

"Stop making out and bring us food!" Naruto hollered from the living room. "I swear you are worse than teenagers!"

Kakashi looked back at Iruka, with his graying hair and soft eyes and that gorgeously kissable mouth, and thought about what his teenaged self had expected his life to be. He had never been happier to be wrong.

This was much, much better.

...


End file.
